Grab.



PATENTEi) JAN. 8, 1907.

A. SUCK.

GRAB.

APPLICATION FILED rmme, 1906.

'7 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

JT k OOOO OOOOQU /ITHESEEZ 5 No. 40,525. PATENTED JAN. 8,1907.

, A.SUGK.

GRAB.

APPLICATION FILED FEB.26. 1906.

7 SHEETS-SHEET 8.

PATENTED JAN. 8, 1907.

A. SUCK.

GRAB.

APPLICATION FILED P3126, 1900.

7 SHEETSSHEET 3.

WITHEEEEE:

v I PATENTED JAN. 8, 1907. A. SUCK.

GRAB.

APPLICATION FILED FEB.2 6, 1900.

'7 SHEETS-SHEET 4.

WITHE'E-EE'EJ &

PATENTBD JAN. 8, 1907.

A. SUCK.

GRAB.

APPLICATION 11mm PEB.26. 1906.

'! SHEETS-SHEET 5- WITIJEEEEE No. 840,525. PATENTED JAN. 8, 1907.

A.SUGK.

GRAB.

APPLICATION FILED FEB. 26, 1906.

'l sunk-sum o.

\X/IT J E5 5 E5 v5.6 Q f No. 840,525. PATENTED JAN. 8 1907. A. SUCK.

GRAB.

APPLIOATION EILED FEB. 26. 1906.

7 SHEETS-SHEET 7.

ADOLPH SUCK, OF'BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

' GRAB.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Jan. 8, 1907.

' Application filed February 26, 1906. Serial No. 802.828.

To all whom it may concern: I

Be it known thatI, ADOLPH SUoK, a citizen of the United States, and aresident of Boston, in the county of Suffolk and State of Massachusetts,have invented a new and useful Improvement in Grabs, of which the following is a specification.

M improvement is intended to render it possible to hang and operate agrab, such as is used in coal-hoisting apparatus and other likemachinery, by means of a single rope, the grabs shown in the drawingsbeing so operated; but I do not mean to limit my invention to mechanismin which only one rope is used.

My invention will be understood by reference to the drawings, in whichFigure 1 is a side elevation of the preferred form of constructionembodying myinvention and showing also the trolley from which the grabis supported and the rail upon which the trolley runs in side elevation.Fig. 2 shows in side elevation, partly broken away, the grab in its openposition just after it has -dis charged its contents. tion, partlybroken away, of the grab still in its open position and resting upon thepile of coal from which it is about to take its load,

7 same to this extent, that each jaw is its hoisting-rope being relaxed.Fig. 4 is an end elevation of the grab in the osition shown in Fig. 1.latch mechanism; Fig. 6, a section on line 6 6 of Fig. 5. Fig. 7 is asection of the housing inclosing one of the hoisting-sheaves. Figs. 8,9, and 10 are views of a modification of my operating apparatuscorresponding, respectively, to Figs. 1, 2, and 3, the jaws themselvesbeing omitted. These figures will be understood from description givenbelow. Fig. 11 is a detail of the tripping mechanism. I

'In both forms of the grabshown in the drawings the general constructionis the vided with means for closing it and that t ere is ahoisting-mechanism which may be latched to said jaw-closing mechanismfor the purpose of closing the jaws and holding them Y closed and may bedetached therefrom for the purpose of allowing the jaws'to open-to dumpthe load and toftake up the new load.

The difference between the two forms of my' invention hereinafterdescribed lies in the dif-.

ference between the forms of latch shown. The mechanism is also shown asoperated by a single rope, which serves both as a hoisting- Fig. 3 is aside eleva-'- Fig. 5 is a detai of the rope and as a means for causingthe grab to secure its load and also to a certain extent may operate thetrolley to. cause the operation of the latch-tripping mechanism.

Turning now to the drawings, in Fi 1, A is the trolley-rail, on whichruns the trifiley B, the trolley-rail also carrying a stop A, which'islocated over the point where the discharge of the grab is to beeffected. It is so constructed as to engage with the trip ing mechanismof the grab, as below described. The trolley B, in addition to itssupportingwheels B, has an eye I) at its forward end, to whichis-attached one end of the hoistingrope B and it also has a large sheaveB over which the hoistingrrope passes after running through the varioussheaves in the ab mechanism. The grab itself in the form shown consistsof two jaws C C, each pivotally supported from a pyramidal framecomposed of rods D, connected by braces D D near their base and at theirtop by the brace D? and also attached to the housing E for the sheavee.The jaws of the grab are connected together by arms a c, which arms arepivoted together, one of the arms 0 being also pivoted to its jaw C, sothat while the jaws can only open a given distance there .may beotherwise perfect freedom of movement between them. In addition each jawhas mounted upon it means, such as an arm F and a chain f by which it isconnected to its operating mec anism.

G is a tie-rod which is mounted in the braces D D. On this tierod arecarried two segments H H. Each segment is free to turn on the tie-rodand has attached to it by the pinf the other end of the chain f, theseparts beingso arranged that the rotation of the segment in one directionwinds its chain f upon it, and so draws the correspondin jaw in aclosing direction, (see Figs. 1, 4, and 8,) and the releasing of thesegment allows the jaw to open by lts own weight,

draigging the segment into the osition shown in igs. 2, 3, 9, and 10.Eac se ment also carries a latchin -arm J, which in t e form of myinvention s own in Figs. 1 to 7, inclusive, is segmental in shape and isnotched at 1', (see. Figs. 2 and 5,) the notch forming one member of alatch, the other member of which comprises a pin is, grooved at k andmounted in bearin s in an arm K, also mounted upon and cc to' swingabout-the shaft G, (see Fig. 6,) these bearings be' slotted at 70. Eachpin 7c carries adog 7c fast to it and Weighted at one end k so that eachdog tends to turn its pin into the position shown in Figs. 5 and 6,where it Wlll be seen that the pin is in en agementwith the notch j. Theroove k in the pin is sufiiciently wide and deep to ride over the curvedperi hery of the arm J when the pin is unatc ed from the notch j in thearm J. The mechanism for turning the dogs 7: from their latchingposition to cause the unlatchin of the pins from the notch 3' will bedes'cri ed below.

In addition to its latch each arm K carries bearings m for a sheave M M,eachcarried in a suitable housing M This housing is provided withopenings, through which the hoisting-rope B ipasses. As shown in thedrawings, the hoisting-ropepasses from the eye 1) down into the housingM of sheave M and around the said sheave, then up and around the sheavee, down again into the housing M for the sheave M and around thatsheave, and up a ain around the sheave B and from it to thehoisting-engine.

The tripping mechanism com rises two levers N N, one on each side of t egrab, and each of which swings on a pin n, carried on an upright 12/,forming part of or mounted on one of the braces D. Each lever issuitably shaped at the-bottom to engage one of the dogs 7c and when proerly moved to cause the dog to turn its pin 2, so as to disengage itfrom its notch j, and hence release the segment H, the periphery of thelatching-arm J as it moves passing through the groove lc in the pin is.One of these levers being located on each side of the grab and it beingnecessarv to move them in opposite directions to perform the'unlatchingoperation, I provide one of them, N, with an operatin lever N mounted toturn on the pin n, w 'ch forms .theaxle-for the sheave e, the lower endof this arm bein connected to the lever N by an ordinary pivoted slottedconnection. By thus making it possible to trip the latches by mo theupper end of the lever N and the operatmg-lever N 2 in the samedirection I am enabled to utilize the movement of the trol-' ley towardthe stop A for the pur ose of tripping the latches and dumping the oad.

e operation of the apparatus is as fol-.-

lows: The grab having been filled, as below described, it is hoisted "bythe rope B which passing over the various sheaves M e M eeps the variousparts in the osition shown in Fig. 1 by the weight of t e load. The

trolley is drawn over toward the stop A,

which is located over the dump-pile, whenthe levers N N will strike thestop and disengage the latches, so that the parts will fall;

i into the position shown in 2, being impelled thereto by theirownwe1ght,.as'wellas' the Wei htof the coalwhicht'he grab is'carrying, t us.dumping the coal. The grab isthen returned to its original positionover the coal to be moved and is dropped by releasing the rope B, sothat it lands on the coal'pile. The rope B being still further relaxed,the arms K and the parts carried by them fall into the position shown inFig. 3, the dogs k being thus brought into such position that when theslack of the rope B is taken up the sheaves M M and their bearings m,together with the arms K and the dogs is k, are drawn up into theposition shown in Fig. 1, the engagement of each pin k with its notch jj causing the temporary uniting of the arm K' with the segments H andtheir rotation in unison with the arms K and the consequent windingupofthe chains f on the segments H and the closing of the jaws, thejawsthus gathering between them their load of coal. The continuing pullupon the rope B then hoists the grab, and the operations as abovedescribed are repeated.

I'have shown in Figs. 8, 9, and 10 a form of construction which issimilar in many respects -to that; above described, the main differencebeing that the latches instead of being positivein their operation arespringlatches. For this purpose the arms J are not necessarily curved,as in the form of device first above described, nor are they notched;but each carries a spring-latch 2, each latch being pivoted at Z to oneof the arms J, its free end being pushed upwardly by means of a spring Zalso attached to said arm J each spring-latch being provided with asuitable stopfor example, a pin 1 to prevent it from being thrown outtoo far by its spring. In this form of my invention each arm K carries aprojection L, located to engage the end of the spring-latch Z when thatspring-latch Z is in its outward position. When, however, the latch hasbeen depressed against the force of the spring, this projection isenabled to ride over the outer edge of'the latch, so that the weight ofits jaws isno longer sustained by it. In order to depress the latches atthe proper time, so as to open the grab, mechanlsm is provided similarto that referred to above viz., a crosspin n, mounted in uprights 12,,and simiof' late es which connect parts'otherwise disconnected,so thatwhen all the parts are in active coo eration' the grab is closed and iskept close 'bythe weight ofits load until the hoisting function of therope is completed, when its dragging function is utilized to trip thelatches, so as to dump the load, and

later it is relaxed to enable the latches to be reset andthe grab totake its load, and thus to close the grab and hoist the load. So far asI know, this cycle of operations has never been possible in any graboperated by a single hoisting-rope, and it is evident to or lessprotected from dust.

feature is, however, to so protect the rope those skilled-in.the artthat the simple and easy locking and unlocking of a grab is a greatassistance to it commercially, especially when it can be accomplishedwith a simplicity such as is shown 1n the accompanying drawings, and itis also apparent that the invention may be embodie in other forms andmay be accomplished by two ropes, one on each side, as well as one.

'I have shown in Fig. 7 a cross-section of one of the sheaves M M andits housin M From this view and from Fig. '5 it wil be seen that thehousing comprises not only side disks m, but a peripheral casing m inwhlch are two slots m one on each slde, to

allow the rope to pass down and around the sheave, up, and out again. Bythis means the rope is kept centered in the groove in the sheave, andthe mechanism is also more The important and keep it in the'sheave thatit or arts of it cannot catch as it wears between t e sheave and theinterior of the housing, especially when the rope is relaxed. The sameconstruction is adopted in regard to the sheave e and its housing E, thehousing in this case also servingas a means for bracing the upper partof the frame formed'by the rods D, the cross-bar D serving, ifnecessary, as a stop or buffer to engage the under surface of the.

trolley. I

What I claim as my invention is- 1. A grab having jaws, means by whichsaid jaws may be operated, a hoisting mechanism operatable by a singlerope and con- .necting to automatically engage with said means by whichthe jaws of the grab may be operated, and connecting means by which suchautomatic engagement maybe obtained.

2. A grab having jaws, means by which said jaws may be operated,hoisting mechanism operatable by a single rope and connect- -ing withsaid mechanism by which the jaws of the grab may be operated to closesaid jaws and hold them closed during the act of hoisting, and means bywhich such connection may be obtained.

, 3K At grab having jaws, means by which said jaws may be operated,hoisting mechanism operatable by a single rope and connecting toautomatically engage with said means by which the jaws of the grab maybe-op'er ated and become released therefrom, connecting. means by whichsuch automatlc engagement may be obtained, and means wherey' a releasethereof may be obtained.

1. A grab having jaws, meansby which said jaws may be operated, holstmgmeans operatable by a single rope connecting with to automaticallyengage said means by which the jaws of the grab may be operated to closeand hold closed said jaws while the hoistingrope is under stress, meansby which such automatic engaging connection may be obtained, and meanswhereby said jaws of the grab may be released to open when said grabhas-reached a predetermined position. 5. A grab having jaws, means bywhich said jaws may be 0 erated, a hoisting mech-' anism operatable y asingle rope, means whereby said hoisting mechanism may automatically beconnected with said means by which said jaws of the grab may be 0 eratedto close, for closing said jaws and olding them closed during the act ofhoisting, and means whereby said jaws may automatically be released toopen, when said grab has reached a predetermined position;

6. In a grab having jaws, a hoisting mechanism, a jawoperatingmechanism, and meansv operated by said hoisting mechanism adapted toengage said j aw-o crating mechanism to close and hold close said jawsduring the act of hoisting, and means adapted to 'disengage saidengaging mechanism whereby said jaws areallowed to open as set forth.

7. A grab having jaws adapted to assume a normally open osition, meanswhereby said jaws may be c osed, hoisting mechanism mdependent of saidmeans, releasable means I adapted automatically to connect saidhoistsaid jaws maybe operated, movable armscarrying pulleys adapted toreceive a hoistingrope, latches adapted to connect said arms with .saidmeans by which the jaws may be operated, whereby strain u on thehoistingrope moving said arms wil operate to close said jaws, and meanswhereby said latches may be released to allow said jaws to open.

10. In a grab having jaws, jaw-operating mechanism comprising segmentsand chains connecting said segments with said jaws, and means foroperating said segments comprising swin in frames carryinghoistingpulleys and ate es adapted to engage with IIO said segments uponthe beginning of the hoisting o eration and lock said segments and saidoisting mechanism during the hoisting operation, and means adapted tounlock sald latches to allow said aws to open as described.

11. In a grab having jaws and means for operating them such as segmentsand chains,

swingable arms carrying latches adapted to engage said jaw-operatingmeans and'also carrying sheaves whereby a hoisting-rope may be reevedthrough saidsheaves and the draft upon it may be utilized to cause theclosing of said jaws as well as the movement of said grab.

12. In a grab having jaws, means connected therewith by which said jawsmay be operated, movable sheave-carrying members adapted to haveoperative engagement with said means by which the jaws maybe operated,releasable means by which such engagement is made when saidsheave-carrying members have assumed a predetermined position and whichreleasable means. is adapted to hold such engaging position during apredetermined movement of said sheave-carrying members whereby said jawsare closed and held closed, and means for obtainin the release of saidjaws to open.

13. n a grab having jaws, a stationary I sheave and pivoted arms eachcarrying a sheave through which a hoisting-rope is adapted to run, meansby which the jaws of the grab may be operated, means for latching saidmovable sheave-carrying arms to said means by which the aws may beoperated, and means for obtaining the release thereof. v

14. In a grab having jaws adapted to swing to a normally 0 en position,means connecting therewith which said jaws may be closed, pivoted armsbearing sheaves for receiving a hoistin -rope, said arms be-- ingadapted when sai hoisting-rope is relaxed to assume a position by whichthey may engage with said means by which the arms may be operated,releasable latchforming means b which said engagement may automatical ybe obtained, w ereby upon lifting the grab said hoisting-rope will movesaid arms, closing said jaws and hold- .ing them closed, and means forreleasing said latch-forming means by which said jaws may be released toopen. v

'15. In a grab havm jaws adapted to assume a normally close osition,means connecting therewith by which said jaws may be closed, astationary sheave, pivoted arms bearing sheaves through all of whichsheaves a hoisting-rope is adapted to run, said arms bein adapted whensaid hoistingrope is relaxed to assume a position by which they mayengage with said means by which the jaws may be operated, releasablelatches adapted to assume normally engagin positions and connecting saidarms with said means by which the jaws may be operated when saidhoisting-rope is relaxed as aforesaid and to assume such osition duringthe subsequent movement 0 said arms, whereby said jaws are closed andheld closed during the hoisting of the grab, and means adapted torelease said latches when the grab has been lifted to a predeterminedpo- -sition.

' 16. In a grab mechanism, a sheave pro-.

vided with a housing comprising disk-like sides and a peripheral rimhaving slots therein through which the rope passes to the sheave, saidslots serving to center the rope with relation to the groove in thesheave.

'ADoLPH 'sUoK. Witnesses:

GEORGE O. G. CoALn, M. E. FLAHERTY.

